


save the day

by scepticallyopenminded



Series: Cross-Postings from Tumblr (Written from 2011-2013) [8]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, M/M, POV Liam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 05:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3475451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scepticallyopenminded/pseuds/scepticallyopenminded
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Have you seen him?” Liam whispers during lunch, eyes trained across the cafeteria at a certain blonde who’s sitting at a table with a fellow Year 12 that Liam knows but doesn’t really know. Louis raises his eyebrows and Zayn snorts and Harry chuckles but Liam doesn’t mind, he knows they’re kind of just as entranced with the new kid (Niall, he thinks, remembering the guy introducing himself during English) as he is, they’re just much subtler about it (subtlety’s never really been his strong point).</p>
<p>“If it wasn’t for the fact that you haven’t even met him, I’d say you’re in love, Li,” Harry speaks up, and Zayn snorts again, this time in agreement.</p>
<p>“I’m not ‘in love’,” Liam turns back, glares at Harry, “He’s just – did you see him blush?”</p>
<p>“You’re pathetic,” Louis comments, and this time, he’s the target of Liam’s signature glare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	save the day

**Author's Note:**

> GOD I still enjoy this fic tho. I'm not ashamed to say I like my own writing sometimes. I'm also thinking about writing a second part to this, I'm not sure yet.

_11:43, Cafeteria_

“Have you  _seen_ him?” Liam whispers during lunch, eyes trained across the cafeteria at a certain blonde who’s sitting at a table with a fellow Year 12 that Liam knows but doesn’t really  _know_. Louis raises his eyebrows and Zayn snorts and Harry chuckles but Liam doesn’t mind, he knows they’re kind of just as entranced with the new kid ( _Niall_ , he thinks, remembering the guy introducing himself during English) as he is, they’re just much subtler about it (subtlety’s never really been his strong point).

“If it wasn’t for the fact that you haven’t even  _met_ him, I’d say you’re in love, Li,” Harry speaks up, and Zayn snorts again, this time in agreement.

“I’m not ‘in love’,” Liam turns back, glares at Harry, “He’s just – did you see him blush?”

“You’re pathetic,” Louis comments, and this time, he’s the target of Liam’s signature glare.

“Oh, shut it,” is his reply, and he goes right back to looking at Niall.

*****

_1:16, Advanced Chemistry_

It’s the look that Louis gives him whenever he’s come up with some plan, and it’s the look that Louis’ giving him right now. Which doesn’t usually scare him (seven years as Louis’ best friend has by and far prepared him for just about anything), but does now because of the person he had glanced at just before he’d gotten that look.  _Niall_.

“Remember how you introduced yourself to me?” Louis asks, the look on his sharpening as the plan forms in his mind. Liam groans, puts his head down on the desk in front of him.

“I thought we agreed you’d never mention that ever again.”

“After right now,” Louis re-promises (which he’s done a thousand times, because really, he was  _never_ going to let that one go), “And I bring it up for good reason.”

Liam lifts his head up, cocks one eyebrow at Louis, because  _what_ in the world – oh. Oh no.

“No way. Absolutely no way.”

“Not like you can stop me. Or Harry. I can almost positively say I can get Zayn to agree to do it too.”

Liam groans again, but of course he  _can’t_  dictate the actions of his friends.

“He’s going to wonder about this entire fucking school.”

“Language, Mr. Payne,” the professor walks past that very moment, and Liam groans again.

******

_Harry’s Basement, 8:33_

As predicted, when Louis tells his idea to Harry and Zayn later that evening, they immediately agree, grinning wickedly when Louis brings up how Liam first approached him again. Feeling like he does nothing else with his life, he groans again, slumping back against his chair.

********

_7:37, English_

Because it was his idea Louis goes first, writing a quick note and “accidentally” running into Niall as he walks into English the next morning. After an overly-dramatic apology and a smirk that Niall doesn’t see, Louis makes his way over to his seat, next to Liam, smiling brightly. Because he’s looking, Liam notices the piece of paper he slips into Niall’s backpack.

“Idiot. That’s what you are. An idiot,” Liam whispers as Louis slips into his seat, “This is never gonna work. He’s just gonna wonder what the hell is up with this school.”

“Believe me, Liam,” Louis raises an eyebrow, smirk firmly on his face, “If it worked on me it’ll work on gorgeous little Irish over there.”

“You were in Year Four. And it’s you. Of course it worked on you.”

Louis gives a tut. “Just trust me, Li. It’ll work.”

Liam rolls his eyes but knows that nothing will change Louis’ mind, and instead favours glancing over at Niall, who’s getting his things out of his backpack. It’s just as the professor is beginning the class that the blond notices the folded paper in a side pocket and pulls it out, eyebrows scrunched together. Louis hits Liam on the arm excitedly, and after a glare thrown his way, the two of them carefully watch him.

Niall unfolds the paper as the professor’s taking roll call, and though it’s slow, a blush forms on his face.

“Mr. Horan?” The teacher calls, and Niall nearly jumps out of his seat, blinking rapidly as the paper falls to his desk.

“Here,” he calls, voice just a bit shaky, and Liam winces at the effect even that one word in that _accent_  has on him. It’s not like he hasn’t heard an Irish accent before, but it’s something decidedly _different_ abut Niall’s. After the teacher moves on, Niall picks up the paper again, and reads it over again, before glancing around the room. Liam has enough tact to avert his eyes, but Louis doesn’t seem to. He smiles brightly and waves as Niall’s eyes sweep over him, and the blond’s eyebrows knit together for a moment, staring, before he nods in recognition, glancing back down at the paper once more.

“Mr. Payne?” the roll call continues, and it’s Liam who almost jumps in his seat, intently watching Niall refold the paper and put it away in his backpack.

* * * * *

_11: 37, Cafeteria_

“He blushed,” Louis was telling the other two the story, smile bright on his face and eyes animated. Liam rolls his eyes, a bit annoyed that he hadn’t yet had a chance to leave a note (not that he had any idea of what to say; fuck, it was totally going to be awkward, for sure).

“He did when he read mine, too,” Zayn informs them, “Managed to slip a note onto his desk in maths before he got there. Nobody but the teacher in the room, nobody noticed, and he walks in almost late, and he seemed really confused. Looked around the classroom a couple of times before reading it. And then – yep, a blush.”

“He’s quite adorable when he blushes,” Harry speaks, looking a little off into the distance like he’s thinking aloud.

“And  _I’m_ the one who’s obsessed with him,” Liam grumbles. Louis laughs.

“You are, love, you are. Just – Harry is too. You know how easily he falls in love. He’s been in love with each of us at least five times.”

Liam gives a small chuckle as Harry glares and whacks Louis, but glances over to where Niall was standing in the front of the cafeteria, looking out for a seat.

“Why don’t we invite him over?” he suggests, and Louis raises an eyebrow, glancing around at Harry and Zayn.

“You all okay with it?”

Zayn shrugs, an “I’m down for it” look on his face, and Harry sends another glare, accompanying it with “Of fucking course I’m okay with that.” Louis gives a short chuckle but looks to Liam.

“Go get ‘im then.”

Liam’s eyes immediately go wide, and he shakes his head.

“Why me?”

“Your idea,” Zayn points out, and Liam throws a glare. He growls for a moment before rolling his eyes.

“Fine.”

To be honest, Liam’s not sure how to approach him. There was a  _reason_ he’d chosen to befriend Louis through stupid little notes back in Year 4; he wasn’t  _good_ with talking to people. Though now nearly done with general education, he’s still a bit lost when it comes to socialization.  He was well aware that the only reason he was friends with Zayn and Harry and pretty much everyone else he was friends with was because of Louis. But he sucks it up because there’s something about Niall, and, well, fuck it. Without really  _thinking_ about it, he yells out, “Hey, Horan!” A couple of people look over at him, but he doesn’t much notice; really, he only notices when Niall’s eyebrows scrunch as he looks for the source of the voice, and the way his eyes light up when he sees Liam waving a hand at him. Seeming a bit more confident and a lot happier, the blond starts his way over to the table.

 “Hey, Liam, righ’?” he asks as he plops down in the empty seat between Liam and Harry. Liam nods, smiling in return to the bright one thrown at him.

“Yeah, Liam. I’m in your English and Chem courses.”

“Yeah, that’s righ’,” Niall’s smile brightens even more, if possible, as he looks around the table, “And, uh, Harry.” Harry nods. “Lllll…” he pauses at Louis, biting his lip as he looks him over, “Louis,” he finally gets out slowly before shifting his gaze to Zayn, “And Zayn, yeah, we worked together in maths yesterday, yeah?”

Zayn nods, smiling back.

“And you’re Niall,” Louis speaks up, a bright smile on his face, “New kid from Ireland.”

“Exchange studen’,” Niall corrects, picking up a chip and eating it, “Only here for ten months.”

Louis starts in on grilling him what Ireland is like, and they quickly settle into comfortable conversation.

*

*

*

_7:35, English_

The next day, and its Liam’s turn. Which, like, he totally hadn’t spent a greater part of the previous evening writing the note, because it was only four sentences long and nothing special and nope, he definitely hadn’t taken hours to write it out.

(Okay, so fuck you, he had, but Louis was  _never_ going to know  _that_. It was just – he didn’t necessarily have the writing skills that Zayn had, or the spontaneity of Louis, or the general likeableness that Harry possessed. So it took him a while. Whatever.)

But when he and Louis walked into class, early, like they’d planned so Liam could put the note on Niall’s desk without anyone knowing, the blond is already sitting there. Louis snorts at the look that Liam gave him, and Liam barely has time to send a glare before Niall looks up, bright smile breaking his face.

“Morning!” he says, a bit too cheerily for seven thirty in the morning. Nonetheless, Louis and Liam both greet him back, taking their seats a couple back from his as more students start pouring in.

“We’ve got Chem with him, too, just slip it to him then,” Louis whispers, still chuckling a bit.

“How?” Liam asks, raising an eyebrow, “There’ll be a tonne of people milling around, and can’t very well do the same thing you did yesterday. That’ll be more than obvious.”

“Just – get there early. Like – walk by his desk and accidentally drop it into his seat. That’ll work, yeah?”

Liam sighs, a bit disappointed he has to wait ‘til  _Chem_ , but gives Louis a small nod.

“Yeah, alright. That’ll work.”

Louis grins as the prof begins the class.

*

*

*

_11:34, Cafeteria_

“Make sure he sits with us again,” Harry says as he sits down for lunch, the other three already at the table.

“Think he’s planning to,” Zayn spoke up, “From the way he was talking in maths.”

“Just – make sure he does.”

“Why, what’re up to?” Louis asks a bit suspiciously as Liam glances around the cafeteria, trying to find that tuft of blond hair among the crowd. He sees him almost immediately, and there’s a girl (Lea is her name?) talking to him, and Liam sees her set something on his tray before heading off. Niall’s eyebrows knit together a little bit and he stares down at the thing before he smiles that super bright smile and looks up, glancing around the caf. When he sees Liam looking at him, he waves and starts over.

“Yep, he’s coming,” Liam says, and the other three look in the direction of the blond that’s walking over.

“Good,” Harry speaks, a smirk obvious on his face.

“Hey,” Niall gives them each part of his smile as he sits down next to Louis, “’S all righ’ if I sit here?”

“’Course it is,” Harry replies, smile very warm and inviting and a bit smirk-y and  _completely flirting_. Liam doesn’t miss the way Niall’s cheeks stain a little bit more at that.

“What was that Lea gave you?” Liam questions, and Louis and Zayn look mildly surprised when Niall holds up a folded paper. Harry’s smirk grown in the slightest.

“Jus’ this note. It’s…well, it’s a bit odd, to be honest.” Niall blushes a bit more deeply, and Zayn, Louis and Liam all glance at Harry, understanding.

“What’s a bit odd?” Harry asks, sending a wink at the other three before turning his attention to Niall, who’s opening the note.

“I keep gettin’ these random notes. They’re like short messages or somethin’ and jus’ say some random thing and they’re all in different handwritin’.”

“They’re all different notes, then?” Louis inquires as if he has no idea what’s going on, and Liam has to give him credit for his acting skills, because no way did he detect anything telling in the lad’s voice. Which  _he_  totally wouldn’t be able to do.

“Yeah, they all say different things.”

“Weird,” Zayn says, his voice also emotionless. Which like, maybe Liam just has really talented friends or something.

“Yeah,” Niall acknowledges, but his voice trails off as he reads the missive, and even though his pale skin is already spotted flushed, he blushes a deeper colour then, his smile gaining just a wattage more.

“Could it just be from a secret admirer or someone like that? Have you maybe got your eye set on somebody?” Louis asks, and he doesn’t miss the very short glance Niall throws at Harry before making eye contact with him.

“Nah, an’ that wouldn’t explain the different handwritin’ anyway.”

“Definitely weird,” Liam agrees, and Niall shoots him a quick look, eyes squinting a little in a suspicious way, but then the blond just nods, and yeah, so Liam may not be able to lie quite as well as his friends (which may be a good thing, he thinks).

*

*

*

_Advanced Chemistry, 1:10_

Chemistry comes a bit faster than Liam necessarily would’ve liked (because after the way Niall smiled at Harry’s note, he’s kind of nervous now – like maybe his won’t be quite as good, or live up to the rest of theirs, and  _yeah_ he has a bit of a problem with not thinking he’s good enough) but he has no plan for dropping off the note to Niall except for what Louis suggested earlier. So he (a bit begrudgingly) makes his way to Chem straight from maths, and as he passes by Niall’s seat, “drops” the note in the chair. Luckily there’s only one other girl in the class, and she sits on the other side of the room, so she doesn’t notice it happening. He takes his seat and unpacks the things he needs and then, it’s just a game of waiting.

Niall doesn’t come in almost until the final bell, and in that time Liam’s had more than a couple heart attacks as people  _noticed_ the note, and he thought for a second that one of them might pick it up. Luckily, no one did, and by the time Louis walks in (just a moment after Niall), Liam’s more than just a little nervous.

Niall notices it immediately, and instead of seeming confused as he had with the others, he just sighs, smiles, puts his bag on his desk and turns to where Liam and Louis are.

“Told you,” he mouths, holding up the paper, and Liam nods tightly as Louis smiles brightly next to him.

Though he tries his best to pay attention as the prof begins roll because he doesn’t want a repeat of the last time where he nearly fell out of his seat when his name was called, Liam can’t help but watch Niall unfold the note and read. And – sigh of relief, because apparently his message was as good as the others. Niall blushes just slightly, smiles a bit more, and refolds the note just in time to give a “here” when Prof. Milling calls his name.

Instead of jumping when his name is called, Liam jumps when he suddenly feels Louis’ hot breath on his ear, a puff of “told you it’d be fine” coming along with it. Louis chuckles, and Liam glares, feeling like he does that all the time now.

*

*

*

_Parking Lot, 2:55_

“Mebbe I do have a secret admirer,” Niall considers as he walks with Harry and Liam out to the parking lot (Liam doesn’t have a car, but Harry does, and so he normally gives him a ride. At lunch he’d offered Niall the same as they learned that Niall lives with a family only a few houses down from Liam’s. About which Liam honestly doesn’t care. At all. Right. It doesn’t affect him at all that Niall just lives a couple houses down. Why would it?)

“Got another one in Chem,” he informs Harry, who’s already aware. He just smiles and nods, the smirk pretty obvious to Liam but probably not so much to Niall, who doesn’t know him quite as well.

“That makes four then?” Liam asks, and Niall nods.

“Four. All in different handwriting, all with the obvious intention of not tellin’ me anything about the authors.”

They’re silent for a moment as they reach Harry’s car and he unlocks it. Liam automatically climbs into the backseat, leaving the front for Niall.

“By the way, Li,” Niall says as Harry pulls out of the parking spot, and Liam  _definitely_ doesn’t feel anything about that nickname (and he’s totally aware of the crush Niall has on Harry – it’s obvious, and Louis’d been quick – and cruel – to point it out after Chem, the look that Niall apparently gave Harry at lunch, but it’s not like Liam’s not liked a couple other of Harry’s conquests. Whatever), “Can I borrow your notes from English? Missed a bit of it this morning.”

Liam agrees without thinking, pulling his notebook out of his bag and handing it up to the front seat as Harry pulls out of the parking lot.

It’s only after Niall’s opened the notebook to the right page that it hits Harry, and he glances in the rearview mirror at Liam, eyes wide. And it hits Liam, too, but – well, too late now, he supposes.

“Your handwriting’s familiar, Li,” Niall muses, taking out a pen and copying down whatever he needed, “Don’t know why, though.”

And Liam may or may not sigh a bit of relief, because although he doesn’t too much care about Niall knowing he wrote one of those notes, he cares a  _little_ about him knowing  _which_ one.

But –

“Wait,” Niall’s eyebrows scrunch together, and he glances back at Liam, mouth a little agape. They stare at each other for a moment before Harry breaks the silence with an “Oh god,” and a sigh. Niall blinks, and pulls out the note from the side pocket of his bag, unfolding it. He holds it next to the notebook, mouth still wide open.

“Liam…” Niall starts, glancing back at him before looking back down.

“Well then,” Harry speaks again, pulling up into Liam’s drive.

“So…the notes…”

“Yeah,” Liam starts.

“Kind of us,” Harry ends, and Niall gapes between the two of them for a moment before groaning.

“Damn it. I was kind of hoping for more tomorrow!”

And Liam and Harry both stare at him before they both start chuckling, then all out laughing.

“So which was yours, then?” Niall asks Harry as they stop laughing, and Harry shrugs, smiling forward at the garage door.

“Guess you’ll have to figure that out.”

“Before you ask, by the way, it was all Louis’ idea,” Liam decides to say. Harry ruins it a moment later.

“But before you ask, he got the idea from what Liam did back a few years ago to befriend  _him_.”

“So it was originally Liam’s idea,” Niall sets it straight, and Harry nods as Liam groans.

“Thanks, Haz,” he says, opening the car door, “Wonder what Lou’s gonna think of this.”

“Probably going to call us names. He’ll get over it quick. Not like he totally didn’t plan for Niall to find out eventually anyway. What with his inquisition of the notes at lunch today and all,” Harry shrugs, “Wanna study for a bit?”

“Yeah,” Liam smiles, “C’mon in, both of you.”

It’s as they’re sitting in Liam’s room, a little later, and Harry’s at the toilet, and Niall turns from the book he’s reading to look at Liam.

“Thanks, by the way,” he says, and Liam looks up at him, a little confused.

“For what?”

“For the note,” he smiles, and it’s bright and beautiful and  _stupid Harry_ , “For what ya said abou’ me. It was nice.”

And as Liam smiles back, he thinks that maybe (just possibly maybe), he was on to something when he started giving those notes to Louis back in Year 4. Because that led to possibly the best mate he’s ever had, and then two more, and maybe, because of his idea all those years previously when he’d been too shy to even think about  _talking_ to Louis, he might have one more.

**Author's Note:**

> find me at [onedirectionaremyfirstlove](http://onedirectionaremyfirstlove.tumblr.com/) or [asocialfoxpaw](http://asocialfoxpaw.tumblr.com/)


End file.
